Pemberton Festival decision may come this week

Agricultural Land Commission meeting all week in Vancouver

The fate of the Pemberton Festival could be decided this week
as the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) holds meetings in Vancouver.

Colin Fry, the executive director for the ALC, which
administers land that lies within B.C.’s Agricultural Land Reserve, confirmed
to
Pique
that an application for
non-farm use on the festival site will come before the commission’s South Coast
panel.

The panel deals with land use in areas such as Greater
Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Squamish-Lillooet.

Fry said the South Coast panel would be meeting on Monday and
Tuesday of this week, but he could not confirm which day the festival
application would be discussed.

“I’m only safe to say that the matter is going to be put before
them this week,” Fry said, adding that the ALC’s annual general meeting would
be taking place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

He said it’s not certain that a decision will be made on the
application and that the results of the meeting may not be known until later
next week.

“First of all, I don’t know what the outcome would be, one way
or the other,” he said. “Obviously we’ll be required to make sure that the
first person that knows is the applicant, so it may be later in the week.”

Organizers of the Pemberton Festival had to reapply to the ALC
for non-farm use on the site because the ALC only approved this year’s festival
on the site.

Calling the site “some of the best agricultural land in the
province,” the ALC expressed disappointment that it was not more closely
involved in planning and was concerned that holding the festival there could
debilitate the agricultural quality of the land.

Festival organizers later submitted another application for
non-farm use to the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, which has to review
land use applications before they can go to the commission.

The SLRD’s regional board approved the application and tagged
on a request that the land be confirmed for non-farm use once a year for 10
years. The fate of that application now rests with the commission.

Shane Bourbonnais, president of Canadian touring and business
development for LiveNation and lead organizer of the festival told
Pique
that without a decision on the festival site,
planning for a 2009 festival can’t go ahead.

“The deadlines aren’t really imposed by us, they’re imposed by
the industry,” he said. “The artists that are touring next summer are all
routing their tours right now. The bottom line is I should be sitting here
talking to bands about playing Pemberton, but I can’t do that right now because
we don’t have a green light.”

The Pemberton Festival drew an estimated 40,000 people to the
site with a lineup that included bands such as Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, the
Tragically Hip and Tom Petty. Community input has been overwhelmingly positive,
although detractors noted traffic and security problems.

It’s believed that 40 arrests were made during the weekend of
the festival, July 25 to 27.

Mayor Jordan Sturdy said no other sites are being considered
for the festival and that if it’s going to happen in British Columbia, it needs
to take place on its current site.

“This is more than about Pemberton, it’s about B.C.,” he said.
“If we’re not successful it’ll be devastating to the community on an emotional
level. Obviously we have many other opportunities and it’s not the end of the
world, but it would be devastating to the community.”

Sturdy said the Pemberton Valley and the surrounding region
have been “thoroughly assessed” in terms of possible locations, but said that
“no other realistic options” exist.

“All other options have been assessed and rejected, perhaps is
the most accurate,” he said.